Calf registrations for 2024 have reached 707,825 head, with 112,150 calves being registered in the last week.
The data from the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) shows that although there has been a significant increase in the numbers of registrations, numbers are still behind the same period in 2023.
Some 57,295 head less have been registered in 2024, compared to the same period in 2023.
But, this is quite a significant decrease on last week, when 102,301 less calves had been registered.
Calf registrations
For the week ending March 1, 2024, some 112,150 calves were registered in total, 100,149 were from dairy dams and 12,001 were from beef dams.
Dairy registrations are down slightly on 2023, with 112,380 being registered in the same week last year, compared to 100,149 this year.
Overall, 625,991 calves have been registered to dairy dams in 2024 to date, this is 41,252 head less than the same period in 2023.
Moving to beef, some 81,834 have been registered for the year to date – this is down 16,043 head on the same period in 2023.
For the week ending March 1, 2024 a total of 12,001 registered to beef dams is also down on 2023, when 15,035 head was registered.
Genotyping programme
In the latest update of the National Genotyping Programme (NGP) released on Tuesday, February 27, ICBF detailed that a total of 285,827 calf samples have been received in the lab to date and that 248,060 calf samples have been genotyped to date.
ICBF also stated that the average time from birth to sample being received in the lab was 6.9 days.
Samples spent on average 4.7 days in the lab, which has increased from 4.5 days in the previous week.
The average turnaround time from birth to passport being issued has also increased from 13.1 days in week eight to 13.3 days in week nine of the programme.
In the last week, over 82,000 calf samples were received into the lab and more than 98,000 samples were processed in the lab.